Refrigerating process and apparatus



June 10, 1930. G. T, VOORHEES REFRIGERATING PROCESS AND APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 10, 1923 INVENTOR. gum 7:??? Wm WITNESSES June 10, 1930. I T VOORHEES 1,762,369

REFRIGERATING PROCESS AND APPARATUS INVENTOR.

WITNESSES -12 W W. 6. 6. flaw,

Patented June 1 0, 1930 PATENT OFFICE GARDNER TUFTS VOORHEES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS REFRIGEBATING raocnss AND arrana'rus Application filed March 10, 1923. Serial No. 624,143.

This invention relates to processes of and apparatus for increasing the capacity of or decreasing the power required to operate a refrigerating system, or both.

The objects of my invention are to reduce the losses of capacity and economy in a refrigerating system.-

I attainthese objects by regulating the ef-- fective displacement of one or more compressors, particularly by regulation of clearance and by producing refrigeration at two or more different suction or condenser pressures or both and by preventing unvaporized liquid from entering a compressor and preventing oil from circulating with liquefied refrigerant and by preventing refrigerant gas that has been heated by a compressors cylinder walls from getting back into the suction pipe leading to the compressor.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic part sectional elevation of a two suction pressure system and other modifications. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic part sectional elevation of a two suction and a two condenser pressure refrigerating system.

. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a graduated series of clearance devices.

Fig. 4 is a part sectional elevation of an adjustable clearance device.

Fig. 5 is a half elevation of an end of Fig.

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation .of a separator on line 66 of Fig. 7

Fig. 7 is a sectional plan of a separator on line 77 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is adiagrammatic chart show ng variations of power for variations of high suction pressure for a two compressor sys tern for fixed low suction or low suction and condenser pressure.

Fig. 9 is a part diagrammatic part sectional elevation of automatic means to regulate a clearance device.

Fig. 10 is an elevation of a separator or an accumulator or both and piping connections. Fig. 11 is a part sectional part diagrammatic elevation of a multiple efl'ect receiver, hereafter called M. E. R. 1

Fig. 12 is a part sectional elevation of a special check valve, on line 1212 of 13.

Fig. 13 is a cross sectional view of Fig. 12, on line 13-13 of Fig. 12.

Figs. 14;, 15, 16, 17 are cross sectional views of modifications of Figs. 12 and 13.

In Fig. 1, A is a condenser having water inlet 21 and outlet 22 and coil 3. B is a refrigerator having coil 4 immersed in brine 5. C and C are compressors actuated in any desired manner. D is a M. E. R. E E E are separators that may be inserted in the system, if so desired. F is a fore-cooler that maybe used if so desired. G G are clearance devices. H H are check valves that may be used if so desired. Compressor C discharges through pipe 7, 8 via separator E having oil,drain valve 33', into condenser coil 3. Liquid refrigerant flows through pipe 9 10 and hand regulated expansion valve llor float regulated expansion valve 12 to M. E. R., D. .High pressure vapor from D flows via pipe 13 through separator E draining back to 1) via pipe 20, and via pipe 14 and check valve H and pipe 29 to comrpressor G Cold liquid flows from via pipe 15, 16 and expansion valve 17 through coil 4:. Low pressure vapor flows from coil 4 via pipe 18, 19 and check valve H to compressor C The actual effective displacement of compressors C and C are so regulated as to maintain such a high suction pressure as is most economical for power to operate the system. This may be accomplished by making each cylinder just the right size or by varying its speed or by causing clearance devices G or G or both to regulate the efl'ective displacement or by a combination of all said means.

I have found that the relative effective displacement of the compressors C and G has a ver important effect on the power rebeing ex anded back into suction pipe during the own stroke of piston, and further preventing forcing said vapor back into the will give a minimum 0 suction pipe by the force of the down stroke of the piston and further catching and saving the gas hammer eflect, under the piston, at the end of its up stroke.

Fore cooler F may be used or not as is desired and when used, cools water, entering it via pipe 23 and leaving via pipe 24, to an ice can 25, by liquid via pipe 9, expansion valve 34, separator E pipe 26, coil 6 and via separator E via pipe 27, 28, 14,29 to compressor C Fore cooler F may furnish all the high suction vapor or M. E. R., D may furnish all the high suction vapor or both F and D may furnish high suction vapor, as may be desired. I

In Fig. 2 A, B, 0,, G G G are similar to like apparatus of Fig. 1. F is a fore cooler for superheated gas that may be used. if desired. X is a condenserrefrigerator.

The condenser pressure in A is superior to the condenser pressure in X, and the suction pressure to C is superior to that of C The eflective displacement of G and C is governed in any desired manner as was described in Fig. 1. G has less effective displacement than C I have found that there is a condition where the relative efl'ective displacement of G to C the compressors as will be explained in Fig. 8. In operation, C discharges via pipe 1, 2 to coil 3 of condenser A, having water inlet 21 and outlet 22 and the liquefied refrigerant flows via pipe 9, 10 and expansion valve 11 to X and is vaporized in coil 12 and flows Via pipe 13, 14 to compressor C Compressor C discharges via pipe 15, 16, 17, 18 to X, aportion of pipe 16, 18 may form coil 17 in fore-cooler F having water inlet 19 and outlet 20, to take out super-heat from gas in coil 17 Condensation occurs in X and the refrigerant liquid flows via pipe 23 and expansion valve 24 and pipe 25 to refrigorator coil 4 wherein it is vaporized and flows to compressor C via pipe 26.

Fig. 3 shows a set of graduated clearance devices, G G G G G any ope of which may be used to give a compressor an approximate desired eflective displacement.

'Fig. 4 shows an adjustable clearance device for incorporation into the construction of or for attachment to a compressor.

1 is an openingfor connection to a comp'ressors cy inder, 2 is a cylinder, 3 is: a pisten, 4 is a stem and 5 is a gland. 6 has a thread to engage a thread on 4, 'Z' is a lock nut to clamp 4 and 6 for any desired posie tion of piston 3, between 3 and 3 8 is means to rotate 4, here shown as a wheel which may havegraduated marks 8 and a graduated arm 10 having graduations 16. The relation of graduations 8 to those on 10* power required for will indicate the position of piston 3 and thus the amount of clearance in cylinder 2. Rotafor the automatic regulation of the clearance space in cylinder 2, opening 11 may connect to a suction or discharge pipe.

The separator of igs. 6 and 7 has shell 1 with downwardly and inwardly sloping bot- "tom, for example, such as a spherical bottom as shown, with openings 2 and 3.

5 is a flange having opening 4. Shell 1 may be flanged, as shown dotted and may have flange 5 with opening 2.

8, 9, 10, 11 are nested cylinders, preferably cut from lengths of standard pipe. The upper and lower ends of these cylinders engage recesses in shell 1 or flange 5 and flange 5. Each of these cylinders has holes for liquid outlets, 12, near its lower end and also holes for vapor, 13, 14, 15, 16, said vapor holes being preferably staggered as shown. 2 is a liquid outlet, either 3 or 4 may be gas or vapor inlets in which case either 4 or 3 will be gas or vapor outlets. I prefer to have 4 as the vapor inlet and 3 as the vapor outlet so that it will n the preferred method of operation, a

gas or Vapor, with substance to be separated, as liquid or oil, etc., enters at 4 and passes through the pipes 13, 14, 15,16, thereby impinging on the wall opposite the vapor hole and changing its direction of flow so as to leave entrained liquid behind which drops to lower ends of pipes and viaholes 12 flows out outlet 2 and the gas or vapor so .freed from li uid flows out outlet 3.

he separator may be piped like Fig. 10, where original pipe line '1, 2 is cut and separator E inserted by means of E.s 3, 4, 5. t. 3 or 5 may have connection 6' for. a direct expansion pipe. When 6 is connected to an expansion pipe then E acts as a combined separator and accumulator, the liquid going out of 7 and the liquid coming in at 6 of either 3 or 5 and the return vapor entering 3 or 5 and the separated vapor leaving 5 or 3.

Preferably liquid enters 6 of L 5 and return vapor enters pipe 2 and vapor to the compressor leaves through pipe 1. llhese Ls, 3, 4, 5, further add to the separating efiect of the separator.

lhis separator can separate any suspended liquid from any gas or vapor, as water or oil from. steamer oil from any gas or vapor or condensation from any vapor.

In Fig. 8 vertical distances above line ai -m represent power to operate aretrigerating system, the distance :22 y =zc y being taken as the power for ordinary one cylinder operation for a fixed low and condenser pressure.

Horizontal distances from 2:, represent increasing suction pressures, :v, representing condenser pressure, for high suction pressures for a high pressure cylinder to cooperate with said low pressure cylinder acting with its fixed suction and condensor pressure, x being said low suction pressure.

m m :0 w, represent gradually increasing suction pressures, above :0 It is evident that if high suction pressure equals low suction pressure, then there is no saving in power as at 3 over m and if high suction pressure equals condenser pressure there is no saving in power as at y, over m For intermediate high suction pressures as m m an the values of y 3 3 are found by calculation or research or both and it is at around the lowest position of a 3 point that the de sired pressure point :0 of the high suction pressure compressor shall operate for minimum power for the two compressor system.

Usually the lowest portion of curve y :9 3 1,, y, is rather flat, so by choosing a value of m nearer to in, than to :20, than a. smaller high suction pressure compressor can be used.

The desired value of w is usually so high as to prevent its availability in any one of a system having a large number of compressor cylinders, because of the small effective displacement required, except through the use of this invention.

In Fig. 9, 9 is the toothed wheel of Fig. 4. 9 has pawl guard 1, carried by arm 2, 2, centered at 3, actuated by link motion 4, 5, 6 and rod 13. 7 and 8 are pawls carried by arm 10, centered at 3 and actuated from any desired source of power as by reciprocating rod 21. 13 is a stem actuated by diaphragm 15 in case 11, 16 having openings 19, 20 and springs 14, 17. Spring 14 can have its tension adjusted by screw plece -12. Opening 20 may communicate to air or some other pressure and opening 19 may communicate with the suction or some other pressure. In operation, guard 1 does not allow pawls 8 or 9 to move wheel 9 in either direction when pressure via opening 19 is what it should be. If said pressure is higher or lower than it should be the pawls 7 or 8' engage teeth on and so actuate wheel 9 to change position of piston 3 and so change clearance space in. cylinder 2 until the desired pressure in 19 is re-established. Such an automatic clearance device can maintain, approximately, any desired constant pressure in a refrigerating system.

In Fig. 11, 1 is a shell having liquid outlet 2, vapor outlet 3, flange 4'having liquid inlet pipes 5, 5 opening into piece 6 having passages 7, 8, outlet holes 9 and valve stem 10 having a reduced area, as a conical part 11. 12 is an opening from 7 to 8.. 10 carries pan 33 having oles 14. 10 has threaded portion 15 having adjustable lock nut 16 and spring holder 17. 18 is a spring having used in an outside separator as shown at E of Fig. 1, these separator cylinders are shown in Fig. 11 between flange 4 and piece 6. Holes 14 are for oil which will gradually accumulate in 13, so as to prevent change of the buoyant eflect of pan 13. I prefer to fill pan 13 with such oil, to overflow through holes 14, when I first put the apparatus into operation. A considerable upward or downward. movement of liquid surface A of the liquid surrounding pan 13 will cause a deflection of lesser extent of spring 18 and thus a movement of cone 11 in and out of 12 to cause 11 and 12 to act as a float governed expansion valve so that liquid from pipes 5 will flow to chamber 7 and be throttled by 11 and 12 and flow into chamber 8 and out holes 9 and either directly or via separator cylinders will flow part as vapor out of 3 and parts as liquid out of 2; some of the liquid and oil may fiow into pan 13 via holes 22. 'l he variations of liquid level at A will raise or lower 11 in 12 and prevent the liquid level A from getting as high as 3 or as low as 2 and so insuring against liquid flowing from 3 or vapor flowing from 2. prefer that 11 and 12 shall always be above liquid level A so as to prevent the formation of vapor under its surface that might be carried out through 2. Pipes 5 may have valve 23 to help govern valve cone 11 and its outlet 12.

Shell 1 and flange 4 may have insulation 24 or shell 1 may have jacket 25 as a means adapted to cool the liquid in 1 to keep it from boiling; Jacket 25 may be fed via the pipe having expansion valve 26 and the resultant liquid and vapor may leave it via pipe 27.

A new form of check valve is shown in Figs. 12-and 13, that may be used for any desired purpose as for H or H of Fig. 1 or for a suction or a discharge valve for C or C of Fig. 1 or for any pump or other check valve use.

Here a nested series of cylinders are used, some having ports therein and some forming guard cylinders. The guard cylinders are 1 and 2 and the ported cylinders are 3 and 4. These cylinders may be individual as shown or may be extensions of plates 5 or 6 or both. Valves 7 are cylindrical split springs similar to sections of a clock spring. 8 is means, as a pin, to keep the ends of the spring from leaving openings from ports when valve is closed. In

Fig. 12, consider the left hand half asa suction valve taking in gas from A and the right hand part as a discharge valve discharging into B. 5 Flow of substance pumped causes spring 7 to open out to position 7 and the extreme opening of valve as shown at 7 has the valve guarded from further strain by being' backed up by guard rings 1 or 2. lhe outer ring 1 has means as 9, 9 to form a shoulder at 10, 10 in a casing 11 and may be held in place as by means 17 or 17 14, 14 are inlet passages and 15, 15 are outlet passages. The parts-of the valve may be held together as by screw 16. 18 is a ridge to keep valve ribbons from too great a contact with 5 or 6 and to allow the substance pumped to flow under and over the edges of the valve ribbon. If rings 1,2, 3, 4 are separate, they may be much thinner than if cast, and more easily machined and the complete valve may be more compact for a given cross sectional net area through its passages.

This form of valve has many advantages, 5 some of which are: high speed of action because of small weight and small lift of its spring valve 7, no extra springs required to close valve 7, small strain on the spring rib bon because of its free unhampered length,

3 protection of valve ribbon from undue strain because of backing it up when full open, compactness, simplicity and low cost of production. If desired'valve 7 may open inwardly as in Fig. 14 or both outwardly and 5 inwardly opening valves, 7 and 7 2 may be used as in Fig. 15 where they form backing for each other when open in position '7 7 The spring valves may have sections for uniform strain as shown in Fig. 16 for an outwardly opening valve and in Fig. 17 for an inwardly opening valve. 7

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerating system the combination with two cooperating compressors of a condenser, a refrigerator and a refrigeratorcondenser, a discharge conduit leading from the high pressure compressor to the condenser, a liquid conduit having an expansion valve therein leading from the condenser to the refrigerator-condenser, a suction conduit leading from the refrigerator-condenser to the high pressure compressor, a discharge conduit leading from the low pressure compressor to the refrigerator-condenser, a liquid conduit with an expansion valve therein leading from the refrigerator-condenser to the refri erator, a suction conduit leading from the re igerator to the low pressure compressor, means to regulate the relative efl'ec- 60 tive displacement of the compressors.

2. In a refrigerating system the combination with two cooperating compressors of a condenser, a refrigerator and a refrigeratorcondenser, a discharge conduit leading from the high pressure compressor to the condenser, a liquid conduit having an expansion valve therein leading from the condenser to the refrigerator-condenser, a suction conduit leading from the refrigerator-condenser to the high pressure compressor, a discharge conduit leading from the low pressure compressor to the refrigerator-condenser, a liquid conduit with an expansion valve therein leading from the refrigerator-condenser to the refrigerator, a suction conduit leading from the refrigerator to the low pressure compressor, clearance means adapted to regulate the relative efi'ective displacement of the compressors.

3. In a two cycle refrigerating process the method of expanding and vaporizing a refrigerant fluid by the addition of heat thereto, compressing and liquefying it by the removal of heat therefrom to vaporize an expanded refri erant fluid thereby, compressing and lique ying this vapor by the removal of heat therefrom and so regulating the ratio of the weights of refrigerant fluid circulated in the cycles as will cause minimum power for the compression portion of the two 0 cles.

GARDNER TUFTS VOORHE S. 

